The philosophy of physics meets the

Tomita-Takesaki modular theory

Aristidis Arageorgis
National Technical University of Athens
2nd Summer School on Operator Theory
Karlovassi, Samos, July 23-28, 2012

[The Tomita-Takesaki] theorem is a beautiful example of prestabilized

harmony between physics and mathematics.
Haag (1992, p. 216)
0. Overview
Why should a philosopher care about the Tomita-Takesaki modular theory?
(Most philosophers dont!)
Because the Tomita-Takesaki modular theory [TTMT]
Reveals an intimate connection between quantum and thermal effects
of fields on curved spacetime backgrounds
Can be deployed to establish holism for relativistic quantum fields
Offers a bold solution to the problem of recovering a notion of time in
a generally covariant quantum field theory
Intimates a purely quantum approach to spacetime relationalism
And more!

2
 In fact, the TTMT constitutes, arguably, an exemplary case for what
Eugene Wigner characterized as unreasonable effectiveness of
mathematics in physics.

Plan of the talk

1. Tomita-Takesaki abridged
2. The connection with quantum statistical mechanics
3. Thermalization by restriction
4. Holistic aspects of relativistic quantum fields
5. The thermal time hypothesis
6. A quantum approach to spacetime relationalism?
3
1. Tomita-Takesaki abridged
Let M be a von Neumann algebra on a Hilbert space H and H a
cyclic and separating vector for M . Define S0 : M H by
S0 A A * , A M,
and extend to closed antilinear operator S . By polar decomposition,
12
S J ,
where J antiunitary and positive self-adjoint. Then
1
J J* J and J 2 1
{ i
: } is a 1-parameter unitary group
J .

4
THEOREM (Tomita-Takesaki, late 1960s). J MJ M and for all ,
i i i i
M M and M M,
where M is the commutant of M .

J modular conjugation (involution), modular operator, and { } with

() i
() i

modular automorphism group associated with ( M, ) .

Consider the faithful normal state on M induced by ,

:M :A ( A) ,A ,
and the 1-parameter unitary group t 1
t
,t , for some 0 .
5
THEN is an t , KMS state over M - i.e., formally,
( t ( A) B ) (B t i ( A)) for all A, B M and t .

Modular automorphism group encodes information about both M and :

If M is abelian or is tracial (i.e., ( AB ) ( BA) for all A, B M ),
then 1 and 1 for all . And a nontrivial 1-parameter group on
an abelian von Neumann algebra does not admit faithful KMS states.
If M is a Type III factor, then the modular automorphisms , ,
are not inner (i.e., of the form U ( )U * with U M unitary elements).
And much more!

6
Note on Bibliography
Clearly this is a sketch in barest outline of only those elements of the TTMT that we shall need below. The sketch
includes, in addition, references to the theory of KMS states and the classification of von Neumann algebras
(factors). Here is an incomplete, but hopefully helpful, guide to relevant bibliography.
For an exposition of the TTMT, one may consult Kadison & Ringrose ([1986] 1997, Section 9.2) or Bratteli
& Robinson (1979, Section 2.5). In more detail and from the horses mouth, the TTMT is presented in the first
three Chapters of Takesaki (2003). A very helpful and concise overview is given by Summers (2006). Borchers
(2000) offers an extensive review of the applications to quantum field theory [QFT]. The KMS condition and its
physical interpretation as a condition of thermal equilibrium is discussed in Emch (1972, pp. 188-213) as well as
in Bratteli & Robinson (1981, Chapter 5). The classification of von Neumann algebras (factors) into Types
originated in a classic 1936 paper by Murray and von Neumann and is presented in most advanced texts on
operator algebras; see, e.g., Takesaki ([1979] 2002, Chapter V).
A compact exposition of all these topics is offered by Sunder (1987). Finally, all these themes (and much
more) are brought together in Haags (1992) book on local quantum physics and Halvorsons (2007) review
article of algebraic QFT.

7
 2. The connection with quantum statistical mechanics
Kubo-Martin-Schwinger, late 1950s
R. Haag, N. M. Hugenholtz, and M. Winnink (1967): On the equilibrium states in
quantum statistical mechanics, Commun. Math. Phys. 5: 215-236

A state of thermal equilibrium at temperature T 1 (setting Boltzmanns

constant k 1) for a system whose observables belong to a von Neumann
algebra M and whose dynamics is described by a 1-parameter group
{ t }t of automorphisms of M is represented by an t , KMS state
over M .

8
Evidence:
1. A KMS state is a mathematically rigorous generalization of
e H
Tr ( e H
)
1
which represents thermal equilibrium at nonzero temperature for a quantum
H
system with finite number of degrees of freedom, Hamiltonian H , and e of
trace-class (Gibbs state).
2. KMS states provably exhibit the salient physical characteristics of thermal
equilibrium: stationarity (invariance w.r.t. t ,t ), thermal reservoir property
(any coupled finite system is driven into thermal equilibrium at the same
temperature), passivity (no energy can be extracted by means of a cyclic process),
maximal entropy (for finite or discrete systems), etc.

9
Therefore:

Every faithful normal state (arising from a cyclic and separating vector)
over a von Neumann algebra represents a state of thermal equilibrium at
1
temperature w.r.t. its own modular automorphism group { } , the
parameter being related to time t by t .

Temperature is the speed of thermal time, namely the ratio between the flow of
thermal time and the flow of mechanical time.
Rovelli and Smerlak (2011, p. 2)

10
Since the non-commutativity of observables is the hallmark of The
Quantum, the trivialization of the modular automorphism group (and the
inapplicability of the KMS condition) on commutative structures of
observables
Indicate that the presumed thermal effects are intimately linked to the
quantum nature of the systems manifesting them.
Illustrate the multiple realizability of thermodynamic concepts when
thermodynamics is reduced to statistical mechanics: the microscopic
surrogate of a single thermodynamic concept may vary from one (type
of) system to another depending on the systems constitution.

11
 Is all this just a piece of mere mathematical physics? Is it just another
ritual of the Shakers?1

NO: QFT in curved spacetime and beyond (apart from quantum statistical
mechanics and quantum theory of collective phenomena)

1
Streater and Wightman ([1964] 1989, p. 1) report that the mathematical physicists who engaged in
this kind of work were once compared to the Shakers, a religious sect of New England who built
solid barns and led celibate lives a non-scientific equivalent of proving rigorous theorems.
12
3. Thermalization by restriction
The origins (Hawking 1974, 1975): at late times, a black hole formed by
gravitational collapse in a relativistic spacetime inhabited by a quantum
field behaves like a source of quanta with a thermal black body spectrum of
temperature
c3
Tbh
8 GkM bh
where M bh is the mass of the black hole and where the fundamental
physical constants (Plancks), c (speed of light), G (gravitational), k
(Boltzmanns) have been restored2 in order to stress a profound point:

2
In the rest of the presentation, we choose units in which all these constants are set equal to 1.
13
 The Hawking radiation marks an interface between relativistic,
gravitational, thermal, and quantum effects.

Further research (Unruh 1976 and others): in relativistic spacetimes

inhabited by quantum fields, the restrictions of ambient vacuum states to
spacetime regions bounded by horizons behave as states of thermal
equilibrium w.r.t. the time evolution prescribed in those regions by specific
timelike Killing vector fields.3

3
The terms Hawking effect and Unruh effect have been used with varied and conflated meanings
in the literature. One should consult Wald (1994) for an authoritative treatment that disentangles the
various meanings. Therein one will also find exact explications of concepts from general relativity
like horizon, Killing vector field, etc.
14
 The contribution of the TTMT
The TTMT has paved the way towards a completely general and
mathematically rigorous approach to the Unruh effect of thermalization by
restriction by showing that

Thermal equilibrium states are easy to come by,

once time evolution is appropriately specified.

Here is a sketch of the main steps in such an approach:

15
1. Consider a quantum field described by a net O M (O ) of local von
Neumann algebras on a Hilbert space H , the net being indexed by
spacetime regions O .
2. Establish that the vector H representing the vacuum state over
the global algebra M is cyclic and separating for some M(O ) .
3. Apply the TTMT to ( M (O ), ) to obtain the local modular objects J O ,

O , and { } .
O

4. The restriction M (O ) of to O will be a thermal equilibrium state at

nonzero temperature w.r.t. { O

} , provided that J O and O admit an
appropriate physical and geometric interpretation and { O
} describes, as
a group, the physical dynamics in O .
16
 Simple Example
Consider the Klein-Gordon field, ab
a b m2 0 , m 0 , on
4
Minkowski spacetime ( , ab ) endowed with a global inertial coordinate
system (T , X , Y , Z ) in which ( ) diag( 1, 1, 1, 1) . Let be the

Cauchy surface (hyperplane) T 0 ; and let L, R be the regions of

Minkowski spacetime demarcated by X T, X T respectively
usually called left, right Rindler wedge respectively. The vector field
a
[X ( T )a T ( X )a ], 0 , is a Killing vector field: it generates
isometries of Minkowski spacetime that correspond to Lorentz boosts in the
X-direction. The Killing vector field a
is timelike in both L and R (past-
directed in L , future-directed in R ). Its integral curves are the hyperbolas
17
{X 2 T 2 c1 , Y c2 , Z c3 }, where c1 , c2 , c3 , with asymptotes
{X T,Y c2 , Z c3 } and represent worldlines of uniform acceleration.
The null hypersurfaces (hyperplanes) hA : T X 0 and hB : T X 0
constitute event horizons for the family of observers tracing the orbits of a

in R : classically, no event in L can ever causally influence, or be causally

influenced by, such an observer in R .

18
 Now, the Minkowski vacuum vector is cyclic and separating for the
local von Neumann algebra M ( R ) pertaining to the right Rindler wedge R
courtesy of the

REEH-SCHLIEDER THEOREM. Let O be any open region in

Minkowski spacetime. The Minkowski vacuum vector is cyclic for the
local von Neumann algebra M (O ) and if, in addition, the spacelike
complement O of O is not empty, then is also separating for M(O ) .

The Reeh-Schlieder theorem can be derived from the Haag-Araki axioms

which are provably satisfied by the QFT model at hand (Horuzhy 1990).

19
 In this model, JR corresponds to spacetime reflection
(T , X ,Y , Z ) ( T , X , Y , Z ) about the edge of the wedge O while { i
R }
implements the group of Lorentz boosts that leave R invariant.

Historical Note. The above interpretation of the local modular objects for the
Rindler wedges in Minkowski spacetime was first established in the context of the
Wightman formalism for QFT by Bisognano and Wichmann (1975-6), who
commented on the possible connection with the TTMT and the theory of KMS
states but did not foresee any relation to the contemporary work on the Unruh
effect. Bisognano and Wichmann were mainly interested in the so-called duality
condition in QFT.

20
Mathematical Note. One can start from the abstract C*-algebraic formalism which
is more suitable for QFT on curved spacetime. The passage from C*-algebras to
von Neumann algebras is paved by the GNS construction: if is a state over a
C*-algebra A and H , , is the GNS representation of A associated with

, the double commutant ( A ) of the concrete C*-algebra ( A ) is a von

Neumann algebra.

Be all this as it may,

You could cook your steak by accelerating it (if the minor problem, that a
temperature of 300oC requires an acceleration of about 1024 cm / sec 2 , did not
make the technique somewhat impractical).
Unruh (1990, p. 108-9)
21
 4. Holistic aspects of relativistic quantum fields
Received View
Quantum worlds are holistic: in a compound quantum system the whole is more
than the sum of its parts
BUT:
No rigorous philosophical explication of holism
Focus on entangled states in non-relativistic quantum mechanics [QM]

The TTMT can be applied to a relativistic QFT model to show that it exhibits
holism in a rigorous metaphysical sense by exploiting a formal analogy of this
model with the exemplar for holism in non-relativistic QM.

22
 What is holism?
Physical property holism (Healey 1991, 2004): The compound system
(whole) can possess qualitative intrinsic properties that do not supervene
on qualitative intrinsic properties and relations of its component subsystems
(parts).

What is supervenience?
For systems of type S, the properties of the class A supervene upon the
properties of the class B if and only if it is not possible for any two systems
of type S to differ with respect to a property of the class A without differing
with respect to a property of the class B.

23
Example. For classical systems of point particles, the properties total
energy and total momentum supervene upon the properties mass, position,
and momentum of the individual particles.

What is the exemplar for holism in non-relativistic QM?

Two spin particles. Pure states of the compound system:
1
0
L R L R
- Total spin 0.
2
1
2
L R L R
- Total spin 2.
2
But

24
Whether the compound system is in 0 or in 2 , each of the
component particles is in the mixed spin state
1 1 1 j j 1 j j
D j
P j P j , j L, R ,
2 2 2 2
which ascribes no definite value of spin but, instead, describes a completely
unpolarized or disordered spin (maximal von Neumann entropy). So
there is a difference in the properties of the compound system namely, the
values of the total spin to which there corresponds no difference in the
properties of the component particles, simply because there arent any
relevant such properties.

25
 What is the argument for holism in relativistic QFT?
Consider the Klein-Gordon field on Minkowski spacetime and the two
Rindler wedges, L and R . Kay (1985) has shown constructively that the
two-wedge QFT system constitutes a double quantum dynamical system:

A,{ t }t , j

A AL A R , A L and A R commuting subalgebras (for L and R )

{ t }t 1-parameter group of automorphisms of A (implementing the
spacetime isometries generated by a
in L and R )

t : A L
AL, AR AR

26
 j involutory antiautomorphism of A (implementing the wedge-reversal
isometry (T , X ,Y , Z ) ( T , X ,Y , Z ) )
j : AL AR , AR A L and t j j t .

This system admits for every 0 an t invariant and j invariant pure

state over A (double KMS state at value ) whose restriction to A R is

an t AR , KMS state (similarly for L ) and whose GNS triple

(H , , ) is such that:

27
1. The 1-parameter unitary group implementing { t }t is strongly
continuous in H so that it is generated by a unique self-adjoint operator

H (total Hamiltonian) satisfying H 0.

2. The von Neumann algebras M L ( A L ) and M R ( A R ) are

commutants of one another and Type III factors.

3. is cyclic and separating for M L and M R allowing for the application

of the TTMT to M R , (similarly for L ):

J , J MR J ML ,
H
it
M R it
M for all t
R
, and e ,

where J is the unique antiunitary operator implementing j in H .

28
Consequences:
A double KMS state at value 0 is a pure state on the compound

system but its restrictions to the component subsystems are states of

1
thermal equilibrium (KMS states) at temperature (states of
maximal entropy).
Because M R is a Type III factor, the unitary operators it
do not

belong to M R (the modular automorphism group is not a group of inner

automorphisms). In this sense, the dynamics of the double quantum

dynamical system is not described by objects belonging to the
component subsystems.

29
 LET
energy of the two-wedge QFT system time evolution prescribed by a

THEN
A double KMS state at value 0

(1) assigns zero total energy to the compound system (since H 0

in the associated GNS representation of A ), but

(2) assigns no definite energy to any of the component subsystems
(since the part of the total Hamiltonian pertaining to R cannot even
be expressed in the GNS representation of A R associated with the
restriction to A R of , and similarly for L ).

30
So the property total energy of the compound system does not supervene
upon energy properties of the component wedge subsystems.
Physical property holism!

Much more can be said. For example, may the right and the left quantum
dynamical systems of the double quantum dynamical system of the Klein-Gordon
field on Minkowski spacetime be appropriately viewed as subsystems of a
compound system? Can concepts like part, whole or intrinsic property,
featuring in philosophical accounts of holism, be made sense of in this model?
Yes but 4

4
The entire argument developed in this fourth section of the talk has been articulated by Arageorgis
(forthcoming).
31
5. The thermal time hypothesis
Time in physical theories with independent (non-dynamical) spacetime
background
States, Observables, Dynamics
Stat , Obs, t t

S
Generalized Schrdinger picture: t t : Stat Stat
H
Generalized Heisenberg picture: t t : Obs Obs
If for each A Obs and each s Stat , A; s denotes the expectation value
of A in s , then for all t ,
H S
t ( A); s A; t ( s) .

32
 Time in generally covariant physical theories with no independent (non-
dynamical) spacetime background?

If the formalism of the theory remains consistent under an essentially

arbitrary choice of the evolutions independent variable, then what do we
mean by the time? Namely, what is it that characterizes a time variable
as such? How do we relate the freedom of choosing any variable as the
time variable, which a generally covariant theory grants us, with our
(unfortunately essentially non-relativistic) intuition of a preferred, and, at
least locally, unique parameter measuring the local time flow?
Connes and Rovelli (1994, p. 2908)

33
The TTMT intimates a bold solution to this problem of recovering a notion
of time in the context of an intrinsically timeless generally covariant
QFT.

Thermal Time Hypothesis

Time itself, not just the arrow of time, has a thermodynamical origin.
Suppose our world is (locally) described by a generally covariant QFT
whose observables belong to a von Neumann algebra M . Every description
of such a world is unavoidably inaccurate (since we cannot perform an
infinite number of measurements with absolute accuracy, we cannot receive
information about some parts of the world, etc.). Thus each such
description will determine at most a mixed state on M .
34
 The physical time is expressed by the (rescaled) parameter t of the 1-
parameter automorphism group t t of M associated with . In this

sense, the physical time is state-dependent.

The suggestion is therefore that the temporal aspects of our world have statistical
and thermodynamical origin, rather than dynamical. Time is ignorance: a reflex
of our incomplete knowledge of the state of the world.
Rovelli (2001, p. 115; my italics)

35
 Whats more, one can abstract even a state-independent notion of time
by relying on the following

THEOREM. Let , be two cyclic and separating vectors for a von

Neumann algebra M and , the respective states on M . Denote by

t t
, t t
the corresponding modular automorphism groups. There

exists a map t Ut M such that

(1) U t is unitary for each t ,
(2) U t s Ut t (U s ) for all t , s , and
(3) t ( A) U t t ( A)U t * for all A M and t .

36
 So the (modular) time flows generated by any two different states over
the same von Neumann algebra are related via a 1-parameter family of
inner automorphisms i.e., are equivalent up to inner automorphisms. In
this sense, they determine a common 1-parameter group of outer
automorphisms (inner-equivalence classes of automorphisms), a single
outer time flow. In this sense,

Non-commutativity makes a von Neumann algebra an intrinsically

dynamical object!5

5
These ideas for a state-independent time flow, intrinsic to a von Neumann algebra, as well as their
mathematical underpinnings are due to Alain Connes.
37
6. A quantum approach to spacetime relationalism?
The philosophical issue

Absolute, true, and mathematical time, of itself, and from its own nature, flows
equably without relation to anything external. Absolute space, in its own nature,
without relation to anything external, remains always similar and immovable.
Newton, Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687)

Substantivalism (roughly): spacetime can exist independently of its material

contents and spatiotemporal relations are not reducible to relations between
material bodies, events, etc.

38
Space is something absolutely uniform; and, without the things placed in it, one
point of space does not absolutely differ in any respect from another point of
space. Now from hence it follows (supposing space to be something in itself,
besides the order of bodies among themselves) that it is impossible there should be
reason, why God, preserving the same situations of bodies among themselves,
should have placed them in space in one certain particular manner, and not
otherwise; why everything was not placed the quite contrary way, for instance by
changing east to west. But if space is nothing else but that order or relation; and is
nothing at all without bodies but the possibility of placing them; then these two
states, the one such as it is now, the other supposed to be the quite contrary way,
would not at all differ from one another.
Leibniz, Third Letter to Clarke (1715-6)

39
Relationalism (roughly): spacetime is just a system of relations among
material bodies and events and, in this sense, cannot exist without them.

A relationalist challenge:
Can we derive the structure of spacetime from the configuration of the
relations among physical (quantum) systems?

Recent work by Summers and co-workers (Summers and White 2003,

Summers 2011), by combining the TTMT in QFT with absolute geometry,
hints at a positive answer.

40
 A sketchy account of a technically demanding work
1. Quantum systems described by family A i i I
of nonabelian C*-algebras,

indexed by an abstract set I which makes no reference to an

underlying spacetime: i I merely labels the laboratory in which the
operations corresponding to elements of A i can be performed.
2. Since it makes sense to talk about subsystems (to say that one laboratory
is contained in another), I admits a partial order .
3. It is reasonable to assume that the map I i A i is bijective and order
preserving (isotony): for all i, j I,
i j Ai A j.

(The observables of every system encompass those of each of its subsystems)

41
4. Assume, in addition, that any two systems may be regarded as
subsystems of a third so that ( I , ) is a directed set: for all i, j I there
exists a k I such that i k and j k.
5. The map I i A i is a net and, thanks to isotony, the inductive limit A
of A i i I
exists (the smallest C*-algebra that contains every A i , i I ).

6. Let be a state over A and ( H , , ) the associated GNS

representation. For each i I , consider the von Neumann algebra
Mi (Ai ) .
7*. Suppose is cyclic and separating for each M i , i I , and apply the
TTMT to obtain the modular objects J i and i for ( M i , ).

42
8. Consider the group G generated by the set G0 {J i : i I } of modular
involutions: every element of G can be expressed as a finite product of
elements, or inverses of elements, of G0 .
9*. Ensure that the adjoint action of each J i , i I , is an automorphism of
the net i M i by imposing the condition of geometric modular action
[CGMA]: for every i I , there exists an order-preserving bijection

i :I I such that for every j J , JiM j Ji {J i AJ i : A M j } M i( j) .

10. It follows that the G0 , each element of which is involutory, forms an

invariant system of generators of the group G . And this makes G suitable
for treatment with the methods of absolute geometry (see Appendix).

43
11. A suitable set of purely algebraic axioms imposed on G determines the
spacetime ( M , g ab ) in which the quantum systems represented by A i i I

are evolving so that each i I corresponds to a spacetime region and G is

isomorphic to the isometry group of the spacetime w.r.t. which the net
i M i is covariant. Different sets of axioms lead to different spacetimes.

Summers and White (2003) thus obtained a model of 3-dimensional

Minkowski spacetime in which
(a) each J i , i I , corresponds to a spacelike line and acts adjointly as
reflection about that line,
(b) G is isomorphic to the proper Poincar group, and
44
(c) each M i , i I , may be identified with the von Neumann algebra of a
single wedge in Minkowski spacetime.

Structural characterization of spacetime from quantum observables

and states!

45
 APPENDIX
Absolute Geometry
(Bachmann et al. 1986)
Characterize a space (Euclidean or not) by means of axioms expressed
solely in the language of group theory so that geometrical objects (points,
lines, etc.) and geometrical relations (the point P lies on the line a , the
lines a and b are mutually orthogonal (perpendicular), etc.) are not
primitive, but derivative, concepts. Basic assumption:

There is a group G generated by an invariant system G0 of generators,

each of which is an involutory element.

46
 Example: Euclidean plane
Point P Reflection P w.r.t. the point P
Line a Reflection a w.r.t. the line a
Point P lies on the line a P a is involutory

Lines a and b are such that a b a b is involutory

2 1
Every line reflection a is an involutory element: a 1 ( a a ) but

a 1. In the group G whose elements are finite products of line

reflections, the line reflections constitute an invariant system G0 of
1
involutory generators: for every line a and every g G , g a g ga ,

where the line ga is the image of the line a under the motion g .

47
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